1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to vehicle anti-theft devices and, more particularly, is concerned with an anti-theft guard for shielding a safety push button of a vehicle wing window latch.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many vehicles, such as pickup trucks, are equipped with wing windows. Such windows are swingably mounted to the door frame and, in turn, mount latches used to lock the wing windows in closed positions to the door frame. The latch typically has a handle or lever which is rotated to actuate the latch between latched and unlatched conditions. The latch ordinarily includes a safety push button which must be depressed and the lever rotated at the same time to open the wing window.
It is highly desirable to make it difficult for someone to break into the vehicle. However, access can be gained relatively easily past the edge of a wing window pane from the outside. By use of an appropriately bent wire the safety push button can be depressed and the latch lever pivoted simultaneously to unlatch and open the wing window. Such wire which must be relatively rigid to work properly is readily available on many vehicles in the form of a master brake cylinder cap retainer which snaps on and off with ease.
Many different anti-theft devices have been proposed in the prior art to prevent breaking into a vehicle through a wing window. Representative of the prior art devices are the ones disclosed in Latib U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,935, Horton U.S. Pat. No. 4,124,239, Lewis U.S. Pat. No. 4,130,309, Hibbert U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,073and Boykin U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,081 and in McKinlay British Pat. No. 1,231,678. These anti-theft devices all have one major drawback. They interfere with normal use of the wing window. Thus, they must be removed before the wing window can be unlatched and opened. As a result, the tendency is that users may forget to reattach the devices before leaving their vehicles.
Consequently, a need exists for a different antitheft device design which will avoid the drawback of prior art devices.